Not a typical zombie movie.

Rating: 9/10 (25 January 2007)

Reviewers in the past have been to fast to discard this film as a zombie fest with the an added twist. I disagree with this theory as the creatures in this film are anything but zombies. A zombie is the walking undead whose soul purpose is to feast on human flesh. The 'rage' infected victims in '28days...' however are quite different. They are not living after death, rather they have been infected rage and become feral. They do not wish to eat people, their' attacks are purely rage driven.
Something that sets '28 days...' apart from the stereotypical zombie film are the themes. Most zombie films spawn from testing gone wrong, or in some cases no explanation at all. '28 days' is the former, yet it leads into more issues than a regular zombie gore fest ever has before. Along with the unoriginal 'testing gone too far theme' comes a variety of other more thought provoking themes: what is the point of our existence? Is there a justification for war?
Of course none of this would matter if the film was poorly made. However this is far from the case. The cinematography is something to be remembered. Every camera angle has been thought out to almost perfection and the empty London scenes are more eerie than any graveyard at night. The camera quality feels dirty too, like a bands first album. This is in no way a hindrance to the film, however, rather it adds entirely to the tone of the film.
The acting here is all top notch with many great British actors involved. The best performance however is from Naomie Harris who you will believe has been killing the infected for 28days, if not longer!
I wrote this review to let any sceptics know this film is worth your attention even if you are not a fan of the zombie or horror genres. It is a high point in modern British cinema and has more messages and ideas than the entire Romero back catalogue.